WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee said
Tuesday it would move ahead with an investigation of whether Rep. Jesse Jackson
Jr. tried to buy Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat.
Chairman Jo Bonner, R-Ala., and ranking Democrat
Linda Sanchez of California said the panel voted Oct. 13 to end its temporary
deferral of the case that had been requested by the Justice Department. The
department has withdrawn its request.
Jackson, D-Ill., has denied wrongdoing and has not
been charged with any wrongdoing. The case was deferred in September 2009.
While the future course of the investigation is not
clear, the committee has looked at whether Jackson, or someone acting on his
behalf, offered to raise funds for then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in return
for an appointment to the Senate seat.
The committee previously revealed that the
investigation included allegations that Jackson improperly used his staff in
Washington and Chicago to mount a public campaign to secure the seat.
Jackson, the son of civil rights leader Jesse
Jackson, is in his ninth term. He was elected in 2010 with 81 percent of the
vote.
Blagojevich, who won two terms as Illinois
governor, was convicted last June of a wide range of corruption charges,
including trying to sell the Senate seat.
Jackson has acknowledged he was "Senate
Candidate A" in the Blagojevich criminal complaint, one of several
candidates whom authorities say the former governor considered for the seat.
The congressman's chief of staff, Rick Bryant, said
the office had no comment on the announcement. Jackson's attorney, Reid
Weingarten, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Kim Nerheim, a
spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, declined to comment on
whether the Justice Department has closed its probe of Jackson.
The committee statement said the extension
"does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any
judgment on behalf of the committee."
The statement said the committee would announce its
course of action by Dec. 2.
According to the criminal complaint, Jackson's
supporters were willing to raise $1.5 million for Blagojevich if he picked the
congressman.
Jackson said in September 2009: "As I've said
from the beginning, I have done nothing wrong, nor have I been accused of doing
anything wrong. Everyone knew that I was interested in the Senate appointment.
I was deeply honored and humbled to receive the support of public officials,
organizations and citizens from across the state. My efforts and actions were
all public, ethical and legal."
Jackson's alleged use of staff was in a report by
the Office of Congressional Ethics, which reviews potential ethical violations
by House members and staff and refers cases to the ethics committee of five
Democrats and five Republicans.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
